


Sucker Bet

by callmeonetrack



Category: Battlestar Galactica (2003)
Genre: F/M, Kissing, Public Display of Affection
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-15
Updated: 2017-01-15
Packaged: 2018-09-17 15:11:49
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,399
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9330920
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/callmeonetrack/pseuds/callmeonetrack
Summary: Kara and Lee share a not-so-innocent kiss at the triad table.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Just a Bet](https://archiveofourown.org/external_works/256493) by da_angel. 



Kara Thrace hadn’t gotten a good night’s sleep in two weeks and it was really starting to piss her off.

Night after night, she would stare at the bottom of the bunk overhead, not really seeing the pitted grey metal, her mind preoccupied by something else entirely. She’d roll onto her stomach and pull the pillow over her head, sinking her face into the thin mattress and trying not to think about when she’d last gotten to wash her sheets. But the picture behind her eyelids never changed. Sometimes she even dreamed about it, waking up sweating and shaking and completely out of sorts. _Gods._ Well, at least they weren’t nightmares about that frakking Farm.

Those were the mornings she’d run extra laps around the ship and the nuggets would stay clear of her until she’d had at least two cups of the swill they were passing off as coffee in the mess.

After the fifteenth straight sleepless night, Kara decided enough was enough. She needed to clear her head, one way or another. A little out-of-the-box thinking was definitely in order.

****

“You look like crap.”

“Nice to see you too, Helo.”

“Sorry, but you got more rings under your eyes than Aerilon has moons.”

“Yeah, well I haven’t been sleeping so well lately.” She speared a piece of unidentifiable food product and shoved it in her mouth, smacking noisily. “I was hoping you could help me out with that,” she told him, mouth still full.

Helo coughed, nearly spewing his drink all across the table. “I’m kind of taken now, Kara—“

She rolled her eyes. “Not like that, you jackass,” She picked up her fork again. “I just need your help with something.”

Helo cringed. “See, you sound so innocent, but I know you Starbuck. Those words always end up with me in trouble.”

“Fine, you pussy. Name your price.” She’d been hustled by Karl Agathon before. Kara figured it was worth it. She’d do anything at this point to get some Zzzzs.

“Well, I’m running short on lollipops these days.”

Her eyebrows shot up to her hairline. “And where the frak am I supposed to get those?”

He shrugged. “I hear there’s a thriving black market over at the Rising Star. Maybe the CAG knows something about it.” He nodded to the food line. Kara followed his glance. And there he was. The subject of all her sleepless nights since her return. Lee was waiting in the food line. She watched him pick up a dish and sniff it, before grimacing and setting it back down. He must have just come off a run, because he looked sweaty and he was wearing just a single tank and a pair of running shorts. Kara realized abruptly that she’d been staring and Helo was watching her. She felt the tips of her ears turn red and quickly focused her gaze on her tray again, muttering “Forget it, I’ll figure it out.”

Smelling blood in the water, Helo leaned closer, ducking his head a little to catch her eye. “Oh, I get it. This is about the Captain.” He grinned. “Shoulda known.”

“Gee, could you mock me a little louder? I don’t think they heard you down in C-deck,” she glowered at him. “And what the frak does that mean, you ‘should have known’?”

“Well I did have a front-row seat to that little homecoming party the two of you were having on the Astral Queen.” He smirked and Kara nearly groaned. “I knew you and Adama went way back, but I didn’t realize you were that close.”

“I have no idea what the frak you’re talking about.” She prodded at her lunch, refusing to meet his eye.

“Oh really?” Helo raised an eyebrow, smirking. “You saying you don’t remember the CAG trying to play tonsil hockey with you as a welcome home strategy?”

“Tonsil hockey? Please! There wasn’t even any tong—” She broke off suddenly at Karl’s triumphant look. _Busted_. Kara glowered at him.

“Ah… so you do remember, then.” Kara shrugged and resumed poking her lunch to death. Helo continued, the smirk underlying his words. “Man, the grin on his face. He was looking at you like a starving man looks at dinner.

“Stop okay? Just…stop. ” She flicked a glance to the table where Lee was sitting across the room, laughing with Racetrack and Skulls. He reached across the table to pick something up and Kara couldn’t tear her eyes away from his bicep flexing. Great, now she was fantasizing about him when she was awake . She had to do something about this so she could get some sleep tonight.

She forcibly turned back to Helo, who was grinning at her with amusement. “So, are you gonna help me or what, numbskull?”

He smirked. “Well, how can I say no when you ask so charmingly? Anything for you, Starbuck.”

She let out a relieved breath and smiled. “I need you to get Lee into the game tonight.”

“Wait, you want the CAG to come to the monthly strip triad championship? Why?” he snorted. “So he can read us the fraternization regs he probably had branded on his ass at the academy?” Kara just eyed him, frowning. “Ok, fine, hey I’ll ask the guy to come. He’s probably gonna think it’s strange considering we haven’t exactly been best buddies after our little Mexican standoff.”

“You want your candy fix, don’t you? Just talk to him, butter him up on about running a tight ship and needing to relax or something,” she said, the wheels turning. “Just make him think it’s his brilliant idea to sign up.”

Helo was scrutinizing her carefully, a look of mild curiosity on his face. “I’ll do it. But what’s in it for you?” he scratched his head. “I mean if you wanna ogle the CAG that bad, why not sneak your peeks in the showers like everyone else?”

“I don’t want to get him naked,” she hissed, even though she wasn’t quite sure that was true. “I want to beat him at his own game.”

“What? His own—” Helo looked at her in confusion.

“Nevermind. Just get him there. I’ll handle the rest.” She checked her watch. CAP in twenty minutes. Kara nodded to Helo and disposed of her lunch. She headed for the hatch and just as she was about to turn the wheel, Karl called her name loudly. It caught her attention…and that of everyone else in the mess. “Yeah?”

“My favorite flavor is grape.” He grinned and all around them pilots shrugged and went back to their conversations. Kara rolled her eyes and headed out the door. If she was quick she should just have the time to catch Kat and Hot Dog before CAP.

**********

Kara had her back to the hatch, but she knew it the moment Lee walked into the rec room. The air changed, pilots going silent as the unfamiliar sight of the CAG at a strip triad tournament sunk in. Kara turned slightly and caught Helo’s eye. The tall man grinned and winked at her, the thin white stick of a lollipop wedged firmly between his teeth, as he nodded towards Lee. She turned a little further, twisting in her chair, and saw him at the board, signing his name to participate in the tournament.

Her eyes widened. Frakking Karl had come through. She bit back a grin. The other pilots were cheering and whistling (the ladies anyway…and ok, maybe a few of the men too) and she wondered just how many of them Kat and Gaeta had filled in on her little plan. Frak it, she didn’t care as long as they did their parts. She’d owe Kat a few weeks of laundry detail and Gaeta had been willing to help for free just so long as Kara didn’t deck him for running some substantial side bets in addition to the big game wagers.

For the next two hours, Kara played lazily, half her attention elsewhere, anticipation thrumming in her veins. By the time Lee sat down at the final table with her and Helo and the crowd reshuffled, gathering round them she was down to only one tank and her briefs. He had one tank too, but he still had his sweats on.

They played the first round and Kara was careful to lose. She wanted Lee to be as overconfident as possible by the last hand. Maybe a little distracted too. Kara caught his eye as she reached down and grasped the hem of her tank. She watched a little flicker of hunger dance in his eyes as she raked the material up, sliding it over her breasts and head, leaving her in just her underwear. She dropped the tank to the floor and it spilled from her fingers onto Lee’s bare foot.

He fidgeted and very obviously looked away and Kara had to bite her lip to keep from laughing. They blew through a few more rounds, all of which were lost by Helo, leaving him in his boxers. Kara was surprised at his poor showing. Hell, Karl Agathon was the one who’d taught her to play triad back at the academy. He could run a table with one hand tied behind his back. As Lee shuffled the cards, Kara met Karl’s eye questioningly. He just grinned, taking the damn candy out of his mouth finally. He leaned in towards her, his voice low. “This is my last one. Figure the more I help you out, the sooner I get my sugar fix.”

True to his word, he folded shortly after the next hand got underway. It was just Lee and Kara now and she had the captain right where she wanted him. Or would very shortly.

She grinned at Lee, conscious of the ring of pilots, engineers, marines, and petty officers surrounding their table , watching with undisguised glee and curiosity. “What do you say we up the stakes, sir?"

He looked up to meet her gaze, but Kara didn’t miss the slight hesitation as his eyes had paused on her cleavage. Feeling triumphant, she hunched her shoulders a little and leaned forward over the table slightly, showing her rack off to its best advantage. “Wha- What did you say?”

“A special bet,” she paused, adrenaline pounding through her blood. “If I win this hand,” she paused dramatically, “you kiss me.” A comically loud gasp echoed from the spectators, but Kara tuned it out, her attention sharply focused on Lee’s face, waiting for his reaction.

To his credit, surprise only flickered there for a moment and his voice was steady, maybe even a little amused, when he said, “You want me to kiss you?”

She shrugged, playing it as nonchalant as possible. “It’s just a bet, Apollo.”

“Just a bet?” She watched his eyes flicker to Helo, who was grinning like a fool. “It’s never _just_ a bet with you, Starbuck."

She didn’t respond, just waited for him to take the bait. She held her breath, letting it rush out when he nodded. “Okay, Starbuck, here's the deal. If I accept, and you lose,” he paused, “Helo here gets to pick something fun for you to do.”

Kara nearly grinned in triumph, but kept it in check, knowing she hadn’t won anything yet. "Are you accepting the bet?"

Lee’s eyes drifted down to his cards and then back up, locking on hers and he nodded once, definitively. His focus on her was absolute and Helo’s words from earlier flashed across her mind: _…like a starving man looks at dinner._ Kara blinked three times rapidly, and shot a look at Helo. His face was impassive. She looked back to Lee, who raised an eyebrow in challenge at her. Kara gulped.

Remarkably, her voice was steady and smooth, and looking at her cards again, she felt emboldened. She had this. Had _him_. She grinned feeling more cocksure now. “Prepare to lose, Apollo."

She laid down her hand. Four on a run. Blinking, Lee laid his own cards down slowly. Three on a run. Damn, that was close. She’d barely beat him.

"Starbuck wins!" Helo crowed, next to her and the crowd hooted and hollered. "I believe it's time for that kiss now, Apollo."

It was irrational, but the naked glee in Karl’s voice irritated Kara suddenly and Lee’s face was impossible to read. She had second thoughts. "I never figured you for a voyeur, Helo." A silence fell again in the room.

"You know me, Starbuck. Always ready to watch you and Apollo." The amusement in his tone told her he was referring to the Astral Queen and she felt further annoyed and unsure this was such a smart move. If he mentioned anything about tonsil hockey, best friend or not, she might just have to kill him.

But it was Lee who spoke next. A frustrated muttering: "You and everyone else." Kara caught a few onlookers shifting guiltily, but not one of them left their ringside positions. Her eyes skimmed over Gaeta taking bets in the corner and she grinned suddenly, realizing how silly this situation really was.

She’d orchestrated this whole thing because she had to know if the kiss that had been haunting her nights had been a stupid fluke or not. Kara had locked lips with a fair share of men in her lifetime. But not even the most passionate makeout session had managed to set her nerve endings on fire the way that surprise smooch had. And none had consumed her brain so much that it had disrupted her sleep for two damn weeks. Gods, not even great frakking had that effect on her.

Kara had to know if it was just a one-time thing or not. And now she would. She won the bet and Lee was going to kiss her. As if on cue, he turned his head from the corner were Gaeta was still raking in cubits and bills and smiled at her, tentatively, politely. Kara locked eyes with him and he leaned forward on his seat next to her, closing the gap between their chairs. He just held her eyes in a long focused stare for what had to be at least two full minutes. He didn’t speak, didn’t move closer, just drilled his gaze into her and Kara felt that familiar twisting heat curl up from her stomach. She licked her lips and Lee moved again, stopping barely an inch from her mouth. His bright blue eyes bore into hers still and Kara nearly shivered with the intensity of his gaze on her. She closed her eyes, her lips curving and parting.

She felt his hands settle on her cheeks, cupping her face and then she felt the merest brush of skin against her cheek. Her eyes flew open. That cheating frakker.

"What?" Lee’s tone was low, meant only for her ears, and he was all innocence but she could see the amusement in his eyes.

"Would you please just kiss me already?" Kara bit back a groan of frustration and her voice was rough now. "I want to get back to play—"

She was cut off by Lee’s lips sealing hard over hers. The spark was immediate, her lips tingling. Faintly, she heard their audience cheering and catcalling, but she was too distracted by the feel of his mouth on hers again, just like when she’d come back to the fleet and just like every night since in her dreams. A desperate sound stole out of her throat as the arousal and need tore through her body again. She felt Lee’s hands sliding from her face to behind her neck, pulling her closer. She was already perched rather precariously on the edge of her chair, and his sudden tug nearly made her tumble into his lap.

Kara caught herself by grabbing his shoulders. Her body was stretched forward into an awkward position but she forgot all about that as he teased her lips open with his tongue. Kara’s hands clenched on his shoulders, fingers closing around the straps of his tank. She opened eagerly for him, thrusting her tongue against his own, wanting to devour him whole. She changed the angle, tilting her head, nose brushing his cheek, and Lee stroked deeper into her mouth. Kara heard herself make an embarrassing little whimper and realized the room had gone totally quiet around them. She should have been mortified. She wasn’t.

He tasted better than the finest cigar, sweeter than top-shelf ambrosia, and she wanted suddenly nothing more than for him to keep doing this forever. Lee trapped her lower lip between his, lightly grazing it with his teeth, and she forgot the triad tournament, the people watching them, the weird uncertain place their friendship had been in since she took that raider to Caprica. None of that existed for her now, only this.

With the two brain cells that were still working she was trying to figure out how to get off the chair and on to his lap without breaking contact. Then she forgot all about moving because Lee slid his hands forward, thumbs dragging lightly down her throat and collarbone, biceps brushing her outstretched arms, palms skimming the sides of her breasts to steal around her waist. One hand stroked the sensitive skin at the small of her back, then dipped down into her briefs just slightly, when she heard Helo cough loudly. He had to do it twice before they broke apart. And Kara slumped back in her chair, trying desperately to get herself under control. _Frak._

Lee’s face was flushed and his lips were red, but his voice was steady. "Something wrong, Helo?"

Helo cleared his throat and Kara looked at her friend, who was staring at them calmly, surprise and more than a hint of amusement in his face. "Hand’s over. It's time to start the game again, that's all."

Kara grabbed the cards he dealt them, but her ability to concentrate was gone completely. Lee’s was too, clearly, because Helo won hand after hand. Even the possibility of seeing the CAG and the flight instructor naked apparently couldn’t compare to the little display they’d just witnessed, because the spectators mostly disbanded. Kara didn’t even look Lee’s way when he stripped off his briefs and she didn’t dare peek to see if he was watching her when she did the same a hand later. Helo won the game (and the pool) and they wasted no time scrambling back into their clothes and retreating to their racks.

As Kara laid on her back, staring up at the pitted metal , her mind raced with all new images and sensations that were a thousand times stronger than the ones that had plagued her the past couple weeks. She wondered how she’d ever get any sleep again. Across the room, she heard Lee sigh behind his curtain and she felt a little better. At least he wouldn’t be getting any sleep tonight either. She considered for a minute saying _frak it_ and getting up and climbing in there with him to finish what they’d started. But a thousand reasons why that would be a terrible idea—perhaps truly the worst of the many bad ideas she’d come up with in her lifetime—suddenly rushed to mind.

Kara punched her pillow and fidgeted and forced her mind to turn to other duller topics. She’d have a few weeks of Kat’s laundry to do now. And tomorrow she really needed to talk to the chief about this black market. Kara wondered where the hell she’d be lucky enough to find a package of lollipops now, grape–flavored at that.

All that trouble, just for a kiss. She’d stupidly thought if Lee kissed her again it would have been settled. She would’ve realized that she had made it into something far more powerful in her head and would’ve been able to just put it behind her and forget it. She had been so very mistaken. Damn. This definitely made things more complicated. But gods, it had been worth it. Still, as the possible repercussions of what had happened tonight played out in her mind, Kara wondered just who exactly had benefitted from this little sucker bet after all.

She heard the rustle of a candy wrapper emitting from the bunk at the back of the room and knew the answer.

Helo.

Definitely Helo.


End file.
